Re: What we want from software vendors (Was: CAD software for PCB engineering and routing)
* Dotan Cohen <dotancohen@gmail.com> [2008 Jun 22 01:45 -0500]:
> 2008/6/22 Nate Bargmann <n0nb@n0nb.us>:
> > * Dotan Cohen <dotancohen@gmail.com> [2008 Jun 21 10:05 -0500]:
> >
> >> When someone develops and maintains a FOSS solution that runs on Linux
> >> that lets me interoperate with my Solidworks-using colleagues
> >> flawlessly I will happily donate to the project twice what I would be
> >> paying to Solid. That's a lot of money to motivate someone. Until they
> >> fill that need that I have, I will continue to use the only solution
> >> that exists, which is a proprietary solution.
> >
> > I understand what you're asking for and where you're coming from. Are
> > the CAD document file formats open or are they proprietary like .doc
> > and .xls, etc.? The answer is important to anyone choosing to
> > implement your idea.
> >
>
> Proprietary binary formats.
Which makes your whole proposition very dicey. As a practical matter,
trying to implement not publicly documented formats leads to a "chasing
of the taillights" scenario where every time the FOSS developers get
close to full interoperability, the company will issue a new release
that breaks the format in various ways.
As a legal matter, the FOSS developers could face DMCA lawsuits.
Only if your vendor becomes convinced that a sufficient market exists
will they port their software to Linux. In the mean time, VM Ware may
be your best option.
- Nate >>
--
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